Ranchi: When poverty or disability comes in the way of marriage, 73-year-old social activist Asok Agrawal steps in — often with a wedding trousseau, certificates and the assurance that no couple will have to give up on companionship for want of money.A native of Delhi, Agrawal has spent the past 15 years helping youths from weaker sections, including tribals and the disabled, get married. Since 2009, he has helped organise around 45 mass weddings involving nearly 2,500 couples.His next event, involving 51 couples, including disabled persons, is scheduled in Jamshedpur on Oct 25.Agrawal came to Ranchi in 1980 to work in the field of social service. He began by promoting non-formal education among school dropouts in rural areas, including Tamar, Bundu and Sonahatu. In 1994, he left Ranchi to live in the Himalayas, but returned in 2009 and resumed his work.At each mass wedding, beneficiaries receive around three dozen household items, including clothes, watches, utensils and artificial ornaments. Relatives and locals are invited as witnesses, while marriage certificates are also arranged.“The poor and physically challenged also have physical and emotional needs. Many choose their life partners but are unable to marry because of financial constraints,” Agrawal said.He mobilises funds through social organisations such as Lions Club, Shree Krishna Sewa Dham Trust and Bharat Vikas Parishad, besides reaching out to philanthropic individuals. “Some donors contribute on their wedding or birth anniversaries,” he said.Gunjan Gupta, who runs a school for mentally challenged people near Tagore Hills, said her institution collects applications from the disabled willing to marry and forwards them to Agrawal. “He ensures the follow-up and has arranged marriages for hundreds of such couples,” she said.One of the beneficiaries, Krishna Kumar Mahto, secretary of the National Federation of Blind, said he had struggled to find a partner because of his low vision. With Agrawal’s help, he married a woman without visual impairment.Agrawal’s social work extends beyond weddings. He also arranges firewood and other materials for the last rites of abandoned elderly people who die in Ranchi’s old age homes.
